HB 1287

 26.466.12  101st Legislative Session  1287
                                           2026 South Dakota Legislature
                                                   House Bill 1287
 Introduced by: Representative Jorgenson
1 An Act to require an alternate approval process for an operation that extracts
2materials by the use of explosives.
3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
4 Section 1. That § 45-6-65 be AMENDED:
545-6-65. An operator shall obtain a license to mine any of the following materials,
6     provided they are extracted by means that do not include the use of explosives:
7     (1)      Sand;
8     (2)      Gravel;
9     (3)      Rock to be crushed and used in construction;
10     (4)      Pegmatite minerals;
11     (5)      Limestone; and
12     (6)      Iron ore, gypsum, shale, pozzolan, and other materials used in the process of
13making cement or lime.
14The operator shall comply with the requirements of §§ 45-6-68, 45-6-69, 45-6-71,
15     and 45-6-72, for each site to be mined. Failure to comply with these requirements for
16     each site mined constitutes mining without a license.
17The fee for the license is one hundred dollars annually, for each mine site
18     authorized under the license. The department shall forward any fees collected under this
19     section to the state treasurer for deposit in the environment and natural resources fee
20     fund established in § 1-41-23.
21 Section 2. That a NEW SECTION be added to chapter 45-6:
22Any operator that uses explosives in its mining operation must report its use of
23     explosives to the department within ninety days of the date this Act becomes effective.
24Use of explosives by any contractor, subcontractor, or agent of the operator is
25     considered use by the operator for purposes of this section.
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 26.466.12  2  1287
1In order to mine any of the materials listed in this section with the use of
2    explosives, on or after July 1, 2026, the operator of any new or expanding mining
3    operation shall obtain a permit under chapter 45-6B. Any operator that fails to obtain the
4    required permit is subject to the penalties provided in chapter 45-6B.
5If, for good cause, an operator is unable to obtain a permit by July 1, 2026, the
6    operator may request that the department grant a six-month extension of the license
7    while the operator is applying for a permit.
8Operators who mine with the use of explosives under permits granted under
9    chapter 45-6 must obtain permits under chapter 45-6B. The department shall implement
10    a schedule for operators to transition to permits under chapter 45-6B starting July 1,
11    2026. The schedule may allow twenty percent of the operators in each of the consecutive
12    five years from the date this Act becomes effective to transition to the new permits.
13 Section 3. That § 45-6B-3 be AMENDED:
1445-6B-3. Terms used in this chapter mean:
15    (1)      "Abandoned mined lands," lands that were mined for noncoal minerals and
16materials and for which there is no continuing reclamation responsibility or
17responsibility for other remedial action under state or federal laws;
18    (2)      "Affected land," land from which overburden is to be or has been removed and land
19upon which overburden, waste rock, mine spoil, or mill tailings is to be or has been
20deposited; land which is disturbed by the building of access roads, railroad loops,
21warehouses, storage areas, or other support facilities for the purpose of mining or
22milling; and land affected by surface subsidence, unstable slopes, and other
23surface effects caused by underground mine workings;
24    (3)      "Aquifer," a water-bearing bed or stratum of permeable rock, sand, or gravel
25capable of yielding usable quantities of water to wells or springs;
26    (4)      "Black Hills," Lawrence County south of Interstate Highway 90, Meade County west
27and south of Interstate Highway 90 and Pennington and Custer Counties west of
28South Dakota Highway 79;
29    (5)      "Board," the Board of Minerals and Environment;
30    (6)      "Department," the Department of Environment Agriculture and Natural Resources;
31    (7)      "Development," the work performed in relation to a deposit, following the
32exploration required to prove minerals are in existence in commercial quantities
33but before production activities, aimed at preparing the site for mining, defining
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 26.466.12  3  1287
1further the ore deposit by drilling or other means, conducting pilot plant operations,
2constructing roads or ancillary facilities;
3    (8)      "Life of the mine permit," a permit to conduct a mining operation which is in effect
4if:
5(a)    An operator continues to engage in the extraction of minerals and complies
6with the provisions of this chapter;
7(b)    Mineral reserves are shown by the operator to remain in the mining
8operation and the operator plans to, or does, temporarily cease production
9for one hundred eighty days or more if the operator files a notice thereof
10with the board stating the reasons for nonproduction, a plan for ceasing
11production for one hundred eighty days or more if the operator files a notice
12thereof with the board stating the reasons for nonproduction, a plan for the
13resumption of production, and the measures taken to comply with
14reclamation and other necessary activities as established by the board to
15maintain the mine in a nonproducing state. The requirement of a notice of
16temporary cessation does not apply to operators who resume operating
17within one year and have included, in their permit applications, a statement
18following the exploration required to prove minerals are in existence in that
19the affected lands are to be used for less than one hundred eighty days per
20year;
21(c)    Production is resumed within five years of the date production ended, or
22the operator files a report requesting an extension of the period of
23temporary cessation of production with the board stating the reasons for
24the continuation of nonproduction and those factors necessary to, and the
25operator's plans for, resumption of production. A temporary cessation of
26production may not be continued for more than ten years without
27terminating the operation and fully complying with the reclamation
28requirements of this chapter.
29A life of the mine permit includes that period of time after cessation of production
30necessary to complete reclamation of affected lands, until the board
31releases, in writing, the operator from further reclamation obligations
32regarding the affected land, declares the mining operation terminated, and
33releases the surety thereon;
34    (9)      "Milling," the beneficiation of a mined material from its natural occurrence in ore;
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 26.466.12  4  1287
1    (10)     "Mineral," a substance with economic value, whether organic or inorganic, that can
2be extracted from the earth, other than the following: water, oil, gas, sand, gravel,
3or rock to be crushed and used in construction, pegmatite minerals, or limestone,
4but excluding the following materials if extracted by methods that do not include
5the use of explosives:
6(a)    Water;
7(b)    Oil;
8(c)    Gas;
9(d)    Sand;
10(e)    Gravel;
11(f)    Rock to be crushed and used in construction;
12(g)    Pegmatite minerals; and
13(h)    Limestone, sand, gypsum, shale, or iron ore used in the process of making
14cement;
15    (11)     "Mining operation," the development or extraction of a mineral from its natural
16occurrence on affected land. The term includes surface mining and surface
17operation, in situ mining, the reprocessing of tailings piles, the disposal of refuse
18from underground mining, milling and processing located on the land described in
19the application for a mining permit, and stand-alone milling and processing facilities
20utilizing chemical or biological leaching agents, and the extraction of any material
21by the use of explosives. The term does not include extraction of sand, gravel, or
22rock to be crushed and used in construction, exploration activities, bulk sampling,
23the exploration and extraction of natural petroleum in a liquid or gaseous state by
24means of wells or pipe, borrow excavation for embankments, or the extraction of
25geothermal resources;
26    (12)     "Operator," any person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, association, or
27corporation or any department, division or agency of federal, state, county, or
28municipal government engaged in or controlling a mining operation;
29    (13)     "Overburden," all of the earth and other materials which are disturbed or removed,
30in the original state, or as it exists after removal from its natural state in the
31process of surface mining;
32    (14)     "Reclamation," the employment during and after a mining operation of procedures
33reasonably designed to minimize as much as practicable the disruption from the
34mining operation and to provide for the rehabilitation of affected land through the
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1rehabilitation of plant cover, soil stability, water resources, or other measures
2appropriate to the subsequent beneficial use of such mined and reclaimed lands;
3    (15)     "Surface mining," the mining of minerals by removing the overburden lying above
4such deposits and mining directly from the deposits thereby exposed. The term
5includes mining directly from such deposits where there is no overburden and such
6practices as open cut mining, open pit mining, strip mining, placer mining,
7quarrying, and dredging;
8    (16)     "Surface mining disturbed land," land from which overburden has been removed,
9land upon which overburden, waste rock, mine spoil, or mill tailings have been
10deposited, land mined which has no overburden, heap leach pads, and process
11ponds;
12    (17)     "Tailings," the discharged valueless product of a beneficiation process.
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                                                                             Overstrikes indicate deleted language.